Post-Super Bowl Hot Takes

The circus has moved on. Minnesota has done its job in hosting the Super Bowl, and now the keys have been handed to Atlanta. Now that it is all said and done, it is only right to look back at all that happened on a crazy Sunday evening in Minneapolis.

The NFL got the calls right

In such an offensive game, there were hardly any flags to be seen. In fact, there were just seven accepted penalties in the game for just 40 yards. There were no real questionable calls, just a number of obvious false starts, offsides and holds.

Even better was the real lack of video review. A pair of touchdowns for the Eagles came with controversy, but upon review, the calls stood.

Those calls were correct. Zach Ertz clearly transitioned into a runner when he took four steps to the goal line, seeing as a football move is considered two steps. Corey Clement’s catch had the ball move, but the movement was still within his possession.

Patriots fans can cry foul, but maybe it was time for a call not to break their way.

The Philly Special was really special

Somewhere in Philadelphia, there must be a sandwich shop offering up the Philly Special. Boy, that was a play.

Facing fourth-and-goal from the one. The Eagles sent quarterback Nick Foles from the shotgun up to the line to communicate with the offensive line. The snap went directly to Corey Clement, who ran left and pitched back to tight end Trey Burton. The former Florida Gator, who attempted 17 passes in college, hit Foles for the score.

It was a gutsy call to say the least, and the timing could not have been better. There was less than a minute left in the half and the Eagles were up three. Fail, and Tom Brady has one timeout and 35 seconds to get into field goal range to tie the game. Crazier things have happened.

These Eagles are going to be around for a while

The rest of the NFC needs to be put on notice — the Philadelphia Eagles are good and not going anywhere. Even with the possibility of a quarterback controversy brewing, a solid foundation has been laid in Philadelphia. Both Foles and Wentz remain under contract, as does Zach Ertz, Fletcher Cox, Jay Ajayi, Alshon Jeffery, Malcolm Jenkins, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce and Jason Peters through at least 2019.

That is a scary group of players in for the long run, and it will take something special to knock off this team.

The commercials were middle of the road

If you were a person that just watches the Super Bowl for the commercials, it was a hard day. A good portion of the commercials were not memorable. However, the ones that were memorable were very good.

The New York Giants finally had something to cheer about with Eli Manning and Odell Beckham’s rendition of “Dirty Dancing.” Amazon was funny, and Budweiser hit all the right notes.

The one thing to remember about all of these ads is that they are actually Tide ads.

The stadium was the real star of halftime

When Justin Timberlake was announced as the halftime entertainment, I was middle of the road on it. While his performance was high in energy, the most important part of a Super Bowl halftime show, there were no really standalone moments, bar Prince.

The thing about the Prince cameo, it is just projecting a movie onto a sheet in your bedroom, just blown up a bit. Cool, but not spectacular.

That said, using the stadium’s abilities to the maximum was the most impressive part of the show.

U.S. Bank Stadium is proud of the LED lights both in and outside of the stadium, and the lighting changes where sharp inside the stadium. The best part of the show was the Prince logo appearing outside the stadium.

Another key feature of the stadium is how close the seats are to the field and the field level clubs. Starting the show in one of those clubrooms made it feel like a smaller concert, something that is nearly impossible to do at a Super Bowl.